Atmospheric CO2 levels hit a record high in 2016: UN warns increase could fuel a 20 metre rise in sea levels and add 3°C to global temperatures

This is just publicity seeking -- but as long as the papers keep printing it, some galoot will keep churning it out and enjoy seeing his name in the papers.

It's not even news. CO2 levels have been edging up for many years but there has been no concomitant rises in temperature.  From 1945 to 1975 there was a temperature plateau yet CO2 levels rose sharply at that time.  CO2 levels do NOT drive temperatures up

And the article below generalizes from just ONE YEAR! That is a travesty of science.  You can't extract generalizations from one instance! But if you are going to be that fine-grained, why not mention  that for part of 2016, CO2 levels went down to 401ppm -- or mention that in 2017 levels went as high as 409 ppm before dropping back to 403ppm?  Clearly CO2 levels are rising but in an erratic and unpredictable way that makes absurd any dependence on one year for significance.

The Mauna Loa CO2 record from Dec 15 to date is below. Column 4 is the average.



Note that the high average is mainly the product of some high levels in the middle of the year.  There were also some rather low levels. And the December 2016 figure was only a little above the January figure.

Note however that these are total CO2 levels in the atmosphere, not just human emissions of CO2.  Human emissions did not rise in 2016.  So the rise observed was NOT due to human activities.  It was the product of natural factors.  The pretence below that that humans were responsible for the rise and are therefore to blame for something is plainly a bare-faced FRAUD.  The 2016 figures are in fact good evidence that CO2 levels can rise regardless of what humans do.  They tell us NOTHING about human activity

And what's this nonsense abut melting ice?  96% of the world's glacial ice is in the Antarctic and that is GROWING, not melting.  It also averages about 30 degrees below zero so a global temperature rise of 2 degrees would melt it only at the extreme margins, if at all.  Do I have to mention that the melting point of ice is zero degrees?


The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere grew at a record rate in 2016 to a level not seen for millions of years, the United Nations has revealed.

This increase could fuel a staggering 20-metre rise in sea levels and add 3°C to temperatures.

Experts hope the findings will encourage environment ministers around the world to work on new guidelines for the Paris climate accord.

KEY FINDINGS

- Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 hit 403.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2016, up from 400.0 in 2015

- That growth rate was 50 per cent faster than the average over the past decade, driving CO2 levels 45 per cent above pre-industrial levels and further outside the range of 180-280 ppm seen in recent cycles of ice ages and warmer periods

- The last time carbon dioxide levels reached 400 ppm was three to five million years ago, in the mid-Pliocene era

- This increase potentially fuelled a staggering 20-metre rise in sea levels and added 3°C to temperatures

Atmospheric concentrations of CO2, the main man-made greenhouse gas, hit 403.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2016, up from 400.0 in 2015, the UN World Meteorological Organisation said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

That growth rate was 50 per cent faster than the average over the past decade, driving CO2 levels 45 per cent above pre-industrial levels and further outside the range of 180-280 ppm seen in recent cycles of ice ages and warmer periods.

The WMO said: 'Today's CO2 concentration of ~400 ppm exceeds the natural variability seen over hundreds of thousands of years.'

The latest data adds to the urgency of a meeting in Bonn next month, when environment ministers from around the world will work on guidelines for the Paris climate accord backed by 195 countries in 2015.

The agreement is already under pressure because US President Donald Trump has said he plans to pull the US out of the deal, which seeks to limit the rise in temperatures to 'well below' 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial times.

Human CO2 emissions from sources such as coal, oil, cement and deforestation reached a record in 2016, and the El Niño weather pattern gave CO2 levels a further boost, the WMO said.

Professor Piers Forster, Director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds, said: 'These large increase show it is more important than ever to reduce our emissions to zero - and as soon as possible.

'If vegetation can no longer help out absorbing our emissions in these hot years we could be in trouble.'

SOURCE




Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations At 400 PPM Are Still Dangerously Low For Life On Earth

With atmospheric CO2 concentrations reaching the 400 ppm level, the media and a number of alarmist scientists have set off the mega-alarm bells, claiming “record high levels” of CO2 had been reached, and that the planet is on the verge of an overdose. This is based purely on ignorance of the Earth’s history.

Worrying that 400 ppm is too high is like worrying about your fuel tank overflowing when it reaches the 1/8 mark during filling.

From a historical perspective, an atmospheric CO2 concentration of 400 ppm is actually almost scraping the bottom of the barrel. Over the Earth’s history, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have ranged from 180 ppm to 7000 ppm. On that scale we are in fact today barely above the Earth’s record lows.

That 400 ppm is actually dangerously low is a fact the alarmists keep avoiding and suppressing. Below 150 ppm, plant-life dies off on a massive scale. The Earth actually came very close to that point many times over the last 2 million years during the ice ages. At the bottom of the last ice age just 20,000 years ago, life on the planet literally teetered on the brink when CO2 fell to a level of just 180 ppm. Do we really want to live on the brink of extinction?

It’s a fact that biologists have shown that once the atmospheric CO2 level falls below the 500 ppm level, plants really begin to suffer. Many of us have seen the video showing how plants grow faster under higher CO2 concentrations.

Note that at high CO2 concentrations, such as 800 ppm, plants thrive. But as CO2 levels fall off, growth rates really start to plummet once they fall below 500 ppm. History shows that the Earth sustains much more life, i.e. is much greener and fruitful, when CO2 levels are higher, i.e. in the vicinity of 1000 ppm.

No one disputes that man’s activities have helped to increase atmospheric CO2 concentration, and it should not be in dispute that plants and life on the planet are thankful that man has done so. At 400 ppm, the planet is a safer place to be and will be even safer at 1000 ppm.

SOURCE




Elevated CO2 and Ozone Improve the Growth of Japanese Cedar Trees
 
Paper Reviewed:  Hiraoka, Y., Mine Nose, T.I., Tobita, H., Yazaki, K., Watanabe, A., Fujisawa, Y. and Kitao, M. 2017. "Species characteristics and intraspecific variation in growth and photosynthesis of Cryptomeria japonica under elevated O3 and CO2". Tree Physiology 37: 733-743.

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) is a key silviculture species in Japan, making up approximately 44 percent of the country's plantation area. Given such prominence, Hiraoka et al. write that "in order to adapt to future environments, tree improvement programs will need to consider rising O3 and CO2 concentrations, as well as other changes in climate" that may occur. Therefore, as their contribution to this effort, the team of seven Japanese researchers investigated the individual and combined impacts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) on the growth of Japanese cedar.

To accomplish their goal, they planted 1-year-old cuttings from twelve C. japonica clones in a free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) facility at the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute in Tsukuba, Japan. The trees were grown for two years under one of four treatment conditions during the growing season: (1) ambient air, (2) twice-ambient O3 (approximately +30 ppb), (3) elevated CO2 (~550 ppm during daylight hours) and (4) twice-ambient O3 and elevated CO2. During the experiment, as well as at its end, the scientists made a number of measurements to discern the impacts of the different treatments on the growth of the young trees.

Results of their analysis revealed that C. japonica had a low sensitivity to the negative (growth-retarding) effects of O3. In fact, as illustrated in the figure below, trees growing in the elevated O3 environment had higher plant dry mass than their ambient counterparts, though the difference were not statistically significant. With respect to elevated CO2, it induced a statistically significant increase in stem, shoot, root and total plant biomass (see figure below), the latter of which parameter increased by some 60 percent in response to a relatively small CO2 stimulation of approximately 175 ppm. Tree dry mass was also improved in the combined elevated O3 and elevated CO2 treatment, though not quite to the extent as it was in the CO2 treatment alone. Consequently, in light of all of the above, it would appear that Japanese cedar growth will experience enhancements in the years and decades to come as both the CO2 and O3 contents of the atmosphere increase. And that is great news for the silviculture industry in Japan.

SOURCE




Global Temperatures Continue To Drop Back To Pre-El-Nino Levels

The HadCRUT4.5 temperature anomaly for September calculated by spherical triangulation is 0.54C, a fall of 0.17C since August. Temperatures have seemingly returned to a long trend after the 2016 El Nino.



Monthly temperature anomalies for HadCRUT4.5 (HadSST3 and CRUTEM4.6 stations data) calculated by spherical triangulation method.

HadCRUT4 global temperature for September 2017 is 0.56 deg C — which is the same as the September temps in 2005 (0.57), 2009 (0.56), 2012 (0.55), and 2013 (0.54).

Source: Met Office, HadCrut4

SOURCE




Australians would rather have cheaper power bills than meet international climate change targets

More Australians would rather have cheaper power bills than meet international targets to reduce carbon emissions.

Almost one in two people surveyed by Newspoll agree with the idea of dumping global climate change agreements for less expensive electricity, with 45 per cent in favour compared to 40 per cent who oppose to the move.

The results, published in The Australian, come as U.S. President Donald Trump pulls out of the Paris accord on global warming which Australia continues to support.

One Nation voters, who support Pauline Hanson, were the most in favour of pulling out of international climate change agreements, with an overwhelming 70 per cent in favour of quitting the Paris accord.

A majority, or 54 per cent of Liberal and National party voters, also want Australia to relinquish global warming commitments.

However, voters on the left of politics want Australia to keep its commitment to climate change deals, with 50 per cent of Labor supporters opposed to pulling out, compared with 71 per cent of Greens voters.

Last year, Australia joined 174 other nations in formally signing up to the Paris accord, which commits our country to a 28 per cent reduction on 2005 emissions during the next 13 years.

SOURCE

***************************************

For more postings from me, see  DISSECTING LEFTISM, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. Home Pages are   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  

Preserving the graphics:  Most graphics on this site are hotlinked from elsewhere.  But hotlinked graphics sometimes have only a short life -- as little as a week in some cases.  After that they no longer come up.  From January 2011 on, therefore, I have posted a monthly copy of everything on this blog to a separate site where I can host text and graphics together -- which should make the graphics available even if they are no longer coming up on this site.  See  here or here

*****************************************